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05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0067. Imported source record; individual Elder status and tribal affiliation are not inferred.
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Interview transcript
Schooling on a reservation, at that time they had these little red school houses that you hear a story about. And that's what we had, all grades in one building. And of course the student's body wasn't big, so one teacher did teach all grades, from first to whatever. And I remember one of my teachers was my favorite, Kate Peterson. She was of Gann Valley. was, I'm going home, I'm going to take care of my parents, and that same thing. But if anybody would say, in 30 years you're going to be working for governors, I would say, that is a dream, you know. But that's exactly what happened. But after high school, of course, it was... Jobs were scarce then. And so we... Now, see, that was in the 30s. Now, you folks don't know what drought is. That dirty 30s was the most devastating period in the history of the United States. And when you shade your eyes and looked up into the sun, you could see grasshoppers surging in the air. And Mormon crickets, there was a great big red grasshopper. It didn't fly, they'd jump. So there was... It was a tough time, really, for the people. And so the government bought up the farmers' cattle, because everybody was in the same boat, whether it was white or Indian. And so they bought up these cattle. What they did was they were going to issue them to the Indian families so they could keep them and raise some cattle in the future. And on the left shoulder of the cows, there was E-R-A on there. And so the government watched on them and said, we heard those cattle on foot. And when they came to one family here, they butchered one. And the Indian agent said, you can't do this. And the guy said, there's an E-R-A on the shoulder. Let's eat him right away. So he left. And then my life changed because I finished the high school job. But then Franklin Roosevelt initiated these alphabetical work programs. And like the WPA, Work Projects Administration, and Civil and Conservation Corps. I got this completely filmed for the State Historical Society, because what I did is, when I came back, I worked on these alphabetical programs. These were make-work projects. But they were good for the reservation, because the first project was to build dams to, in the future, to hold water and probably good for the rancher. But I tell my kids, I must have been tough. Because we had good horses, good work teams. And the team, the general team, is the Grays. That's where we get the Hashoka Heekhota. And the names was Ben and Snip. But they were gentle, real gentle horses.